The real reason you have 29 dev and test environments

Many software engineering organizations face the challenge of managing numerous development and testing environments due to their heavy reliance on end-to-end (e2e) testing, which is often believed to be essential for reliable quality assurance. This approach, however, can lead to significant operational costs and complexities, as each environment needs to replicate a scaled-down version of the production system. The proliferation of environments arises from the need to accommodate different software versions, avoid destabilization from other teams' deployments, and maintain exclusive access for specific testing scenarios. The underlying issue is the pervasive belief that only tests conducted on the full, real system are trustworthy, a notion that has been debunked by successful engineering organizations. These organizations demonstrate that many quality risks can be addressed through more targeted and isolated testing methods, such as contract and functional testing against mocks. By employing this strategy, companies can reduce the number of e2e environments required, lowering costs and operational efforts while promoting more frequent and reliable software releases. This nuanced testing approach not only curbs environment sprawl but also enhances the overall efficiency and effectiveness of software development.

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